Sutras

[56] The Parable Of Asking For Nothing From The Sūtra Of A Hundred Parables《百喻经》之索无物喻

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《百喻经》
[The] Sūtra [Of A] Hundred Parables

(五六)索无物喻
(56) Parable [Of] Asking [For] Nothing


昔有二人道中共行,见有一人将胡麻车,在崄路中不能得前。

[In the] past, [there] were two persons [in the] middle [of the] path together walking, seeing [there] is a person leading [a] sesame cart, in [the] middle [of a] steep road, not able [to] go forward.

时将车者语彼二人:「佐我推车出此崄路。」

Then, that [person] leading [the] cart said [to] those two persons, ‘Help me push [this] cart out [of] this steep road.’

二人答言:「与我何物?」

[The] two persons replied, saying, ‘[You will] give us what thing?’

将车者言:「无物与汝。」

That [person] leading [the] cart said, ‘[I have] nothing [to] give you.’

时此二人即佐推车至于平地,语将车人言:「与我物来。」

Then, these two persons immediately helped [to] push [the] cart to reach flat land. Speaking [to the] person leading [the] cart, saying, ‘Give us [the] thing earned.’

答言:「无物。」

[He] replied, saying, ‘[I have] nothing.’

又复语言:「与我无物。」

Once again saying, ‘Give us nothing.’

二人之中其一人者含笑而言:「彼不肯与,何足为愁?」

Within those two persons, that first person smiled and said, ‘[As] that [person is] not willing [to] give [it], how [is this] worthy for worry?’

其人答言:「与我无物,必应有无物。」

That [second] person replied, saying, ‘Give us nothing, [as you] must have nothing.’

其一人言:「无物者,二字共合是为假名。」

That first person said, ‘[As] that nothing, [is just] two words [i.e. no thing] combined together, [it] is as [a] false name.’

世俗凡夫若无物者,便生无所有处,第二人言无物者,即是无相无愿无作。

Worldly ordinary beings, if [are] those [attached to] nothing, [are] then born [in the] sphere without that existing. That second person’s said nothing, then is [that] without form, without wish [and] without doing.

[Note 1: The sphere without that existing (无所有处) is the third formless realm’s heaven (第三无色界天) with nothing physical, which arises due to those very attached to the state of physical nothingness. Those reborn there, although abiding in it for a very long time in concentration, are still not liberated, as liberation is not to become ‘nothing.’]

[Note 2: Those liberated are as if without forms (无相), but still with all forms, without any pure and impure forms attached to. Those liberated are as if without wishes (无愿), but still with pure wishes, without any wish attached to. Those liberated are as if without doing (无作), but still with doing of what should be done, without any of the doing and that done attached to.]

Namo Amituofo : Translation and notes by Shen Shi’an

上个喻
Previous Parable:

愿为王剃须喻
[55] The Parable Of Wishing To, For The King Shave His Beard
https://purelanders.com/2023/09/25/55-the-parable-of-wishing-to-for-the-king-shave-his-beard-from-the-sutra-of-a-hundred-parables

下个喻
Next Parable:

蹋长者口喻
[57] The Parable Of Stepping On The Elder’s Mouth
https://purelanders.com/2023/09/26/57-the-parable-of-stepping-on-the-elders-mouth-from-the-sutra-of-a-hundred-parables

全百喻
All Hundred Parables:

https://purelanders.com/baiyu

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